Bhopal Second Disaster

100 images Created 1 Sep 2009

On the night of December 3rd 1984, Bhopal became the site of the most devastating chemical disaster in industrial history. Thousands of people died immediately as poison gas leaked from a pesticide plant and formed a deadly cloud that moved through the Indian city. In retrospect Bhopal was the seminal catastrophe of globalization, as the company responsible for the leak was an Indian subsidiary of the American corporation Union Carbide, now DOW Chemical. Who would assume liability, who would care for the victims, and the survivors?

Three decades later, the Bhopal disaster just won't go away. Courts in India and the United States are still dealing with the consequences of the accident, as activists around the world work to hold the guilty parties and their legal successors to account - while the latter don't feel responsible. In Old Bhopal, the ruins of the former chemical plant are still standing, and hazardous waste from the pesticide production preceding the disaster in 1984 is still contaminating soil (on which some people build houses) and groundwater (which some people drink) - while those living in New Bhopal dream of India's fragile economic miracle.